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School Improvement

School Improvement Summary 2024 - 2025

School improvement is an essential part of ensuring all learners at St David's access the best learning experiences possible.  We need a clear and honest understanding of what we are doing well and what we need to do better.  We are committed to both sharing good practice and learning from others.  We work in partnership with Welsh Government, local authority advisors, CSCjes and Llandaff Diocese.  We also identify additional opportunities for professional input as necessary. 

Our improvement plan is a live document and subject to change following evaluation.   

Target 1:  To raise standards in Mathematics and Numeracy across the school by improving consistency in teaching, increasing staff confidence, and ensuring learners make strong progress in procedural fluency, numerical reasoning, and the application of mathematical skills across the curriculum.

Success Criteria:

  • Staff demonstrate confidence in teaching Mathematics and Numeracy, with a secure understanding of progression across all Progression Steps, enabling effective planning and differentiation.
  • Staff are skilled in using a range of teaching strategies, including the effective use of manipulatives and visual representations, to support conceptual understanding in line with the principles of CPA (Concrete–Pictorial–Abstract).
  • The Mathematics and Numeracy scheme of learning is clearly aligned to the ‘What Matters’ statements, ensuring coverage of all key concepts and providing meaningful, context-rich learning experiences.
  • Learners’ mathematical fluency and confidence are improving, with most learners reporting enjoyment and a positive attitude towards Mathematics.
  • Opportunities to apply Mathematics and Numeracy across the curriculum are mapped, planned, and embedded, supporting learners to make connections between concepts in authentic contexts.
  • Learners apply mathematical reasoning, problem-solving, and numerical procedures with increasing accuracy and independence, demonstrating progression in line with the principles of the Curriculum for Wales progression framework.
  • Standards in Mathematics and Numeracy are consistently good or better, including both numerical fluency and procedural accuracy, with assessment information showing clear progression for all learners over time.
Target 2:  embed metacognitive strategies across the curriculum to support pupils in planning, monitoring, and evaluating their learning, leading to improved learner independence, resilience, and attainment. (to include feedback and knowing next steps)

Success Criteria:

  • Pupils are self-regulating (aware of their own strengths and weaknesses) and can motivate themselves to engage in and improve their own learning.
  • Pupils understand how they learn, exhibiting knowledge of themselves as learners, understanding how to deploy a range of available strategies for different tasks.
  • Some pupils consistently plan for tasks with independence, reflecting upon the success of their plans.
  • Some pupils engage in metacognitive talk with their peers with relative independence.
  • Most pupils effectively manage their learning outside of the classroom, utilising a range of strategies with increasing independence.
  • Most pupils fully engage with feedback to monitor their learning with increasing independence.
  • Teachers have a developing understanding of metacognition and self-regulation.
  • Teachers understand the specific terminology of metacognitive knowledge (task, strategies and self) and metacognitive regulation (planning, monitoring and evaluation) and they can explain them with increasing insight.
  • Teachers are aware of the EEF toolkit and have read the metacognition guidance report, which leads to a confident understanding of metacognition and self-regulation.
  • Teachers start to execute an explicit explanation of their thinking for most tasks.
  • Teachers consistently provide support for pupils in all facets of planning, monitoring and evaluating their learning. 
  • Challenge is regularly pitched in the zone of desirable difficulty.
  • Teachers’ modelling consistently takes account of the need to explicitly share the thinking behind each step.
  • Scaffolding is taken into account when planning tasks and principles of cognitive load are applied

Target 3:  To develop a whole school approach to mental health, including reflection and prayer. 

Success Criteria:

  • Success Criteria:

  • All staff, pupils, governors, and families understand their roles in promoting wellbeing, using consistent language and shared values. A sense of belonging, trust, and emotional safety is evident throughout the school community 
  • The school culture clearly prioritises wellbeing as an integral part of everyday life, not an add-on activity, and is embedded into policies, routines, and strategic thinking.
  • Well‑being planning is co‑created and reflective, clearly aligned with the Framework’s principles, and revisited regularly through a cycle of self‑evaluation, action, review, and celebration
  • Learner and parent/carer voice is integral to the planning and evaluation of wellbeing provision. Pupils are seen as active contributors, not passive recipients 
  • Universal wellbeing support is provided to all, while targeted support for individuals is available. Interventions are timely, evidence-informed, and regularly reviewed 
  • Strong links with external services through the local authority are established
  • Professional learning is provided to strengthen staff capacity in supporting wellbeing. Staff understand how to identify mental health needs, plan interventions, and support resilience
  • Attendance, engagement, and well‑being data are systematically collected and analysed — especially for vulnerable learner groups
  • Well‑being outcomes are evaluated through learner voice, surveys, staff feedback, and outcome reports to guide ongoing improvement.
  • Physical and social environments support connectedness and positive relationships. Facilities, displays, routines, and pastoral structures all promote emotional safety.
  • Relationships among staff, pupils, and families are nurtured
  • The school works collaboratively with health boards, local authorities, diocese (Flourish) to align practice and
  • Opportunities for spiritual reflection, stillness, and prayer are integrated into the daily life of the school, supporting learners' emotional regulation, self-awareness, and sense of inner calm.
  • Collective worship, class reflection times, and quiet spaces are used purposefully to help children pause, reflect, and make sense of their emotions and experiences.
  • Staff recognise and promote the value of spiritual well-being as part of a holistic approach to emotional health, supporting children’s resilience, empathy, and ability to find meaning during challenging times.
  • Prayer and spiritual practices are inclusive, respectful of all beliefs, and designed to help children feel valued, connected, and safe within the school community.

Target 4:  Distributed leadership and developing leadership skills 

Success Criteria:

 

  • Leaders demonstrate confidence and expertise by leading a specific focus area, taking full responsibility for monitoring and improving standards within that area of learning  (Leadership Standard: Leading Learning and Teaching).
  • Consistent and high-quality practice is evident across key areas such as curriculum design, assessment, and pedagogy, reflecting strategic leadership and shared understanding of best practice (Leadership Standard: Strategic Leadership).
  • Professional agency and innovation are fostered through reflective practice and collaborative professional learning, promoting continuous improvement at individual and team levels (Leadership Standard: Developing Self and Working with Others).
  • Succession planning is embedded to build leadership capacity across the school, reducing dependence on the senior leadership team and ensuring sustainable leadership (Leadership Standard: Managing the Organisation).

Decision-making at all levels is informed and responsive, leading to enhanced pupil outcomes and a culture of shared accountability and strategic vision.